January 1, 2021 9:00am - December 31, 2021 12:00am
Texas/ US Winter Freeze Emergency
Lansing, Michigan Muslim Community Response Page
Lansing's chance to help Texas, and Several U.S. states that have been battered by an unlikely winter storm!
While we hear in the northen states are accostmed to harsh winters and frigid weather, this is not the case for our brothers and sisters in the south. Power blackouts have left more than FOUR MILLION people across Texas without power, and unplowed roads have left many families trapped in their homes without heat or water.
In addition to Texas, this brutal winter weather has caused emergencies across Alabama, Oregon, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kentucky, and Mississippi.
IRUSA teams are on the ground and working with mosques and partners in the Dallas and Houston areas to provide the most vulnerable, including elderly, low income, and homeless populations with food, financial assistance, blankets, and more.
Your donation makes it possible to reach more of our neighbors in need during this challenging and difficult time.
Nearly 154 million people in the United States were under some sort of winter weather alert Monday, according to the National Weather Service. Wind chill warnings or advisories are in effect for about 68 million people. Icy roads, power outages, and dangerously low temperatures were making life miserable. The cold air is so widespread that you could travel nearly 2,000 miles from the Rio Grande on the Mexican border to the St. Lawrence River on the Canadian border entirely in winter storm warnings or watches.
More than 5.1 million people across the country had no power as of Monday afternoon because of the deadly storm system. At least 4.2 million outages were reported in Texas, where rolling blackouts started overnight. The cold is believed to have contributed to at least three deaths in Texas’ Houston area alone, police said. That includes a woman and a girl who died of carbon monoxide poisoning after a car was running in the garage at their home to create heat because the power was out, Houston police said Tuesday morning.
In addition to Texas, the severe winter weather has sparked emergency declarations in at least six other states, including Alabama, Oregon, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kentucky, and Mississippi. IRUSA has formally launched an emergency effort and will be supporting aid disbursement.